Game 15: Saint Francis (Pa.) (8-6-1, 4-3-0 NEC) at Mount St. Mary's (7-6-1, 4-3-0 NEC)
WHEN: Fri, Oct. 28, 2011, 7 p.m.
WHERE: Waldron Family Stadium, Emmitsburg, Md.

SERIES INFORMATION: Mount leads 11-8-2
LAST MEETING: Saint Francis (Pa.) (1-0) 11-1-10
FIRST MEETING: Mount (4-0) 9-16-89
LAST MOUNT WIN: (1-0) 10-23-09
IN EMMITSBURG: Mount leads 5-4-1

opening kick... Friday's home finale between Mount St. Mary's and Saint Francis (Pa.) marks the 22nd meeting in the all-time series dating back to the 1989 season. The Mount leads the series 11-8-2. Each team has won on its home field in the last four matchups and the final score has been 1-0 in five of the last six meetings. The Red Flash defeated the Mountaineers 1-0 last season in Loretto while the Mount won back-to-back tilts 1-0 in 2008 and 2009 in Emmitsburg.

about the red flash... Saint Francis (Pa.), who is riding a three-game winning streak, comes into the match 8-6-1 overall and 4-3-0 in Northeast Conference play after defeating Bryant 3-0 on Sunday. Senior midfielder Kingsley McLeod, freshman midfielder Pablo Medina and junior forward Wayne Tiller are tied for the team lead with three goals and four assists for 10 points. Junior defender David Butler and sophomore midfielder Nick Kolarac each have two tallies and three assists for seven points to rank third on the team. Senior goalkeeper Darius Motazed has 55 saves, a 0.68 goals against average and a .859 save percentage.

last time we met… Saint Francis (Pa.) scored in the 107th minute to edge Mount St. Mary's 1-0 in double on Nov. 1, 2010. Chris Davis made five saves for the Mountaineers in the loss. Sean O'Reilly served a long ball to Owen Gombami, who tipped into the lower right netting at the 106:17 mark to hand the Red Flash the double-overtime victory. Daniel Valcicak made five saves in the winning effort.

Game 16: Mount St. Mary's (7-6-1, 4-3-0 NEC) at Robert Morris (4-9-1, 0-7-0 NEC
WHEN: Sun, Oct. 30, 2011, 1 p.m.
WHERE: North Athletic Complex, Moon Township, Pa.

SERIES INFORMATION: Robert Morris leads 12-7-5
LAST MEETING: Mount (1-0) 10-29-10
FIRST MEETING: Mount (1-0) 10-8-89
LAST ROBERT MORRIS WIN: (2-1) 10-30-05
IN MOON TOWNSHIP: Robert Morris leads 8-2-2

opening kick... Sunday's game between Mount St. Mary's and Robert Morris marks the 25th meeting in the all-time series dating back to the 1989 season. The Colonials lead the series 12-7-5, but the Mount has five-game unbeaten streak in the series. The Mountaineers downed Robert Morris 1-0 last season while the Colonials last win in the matchup was a 2-1 decision in 2005.

last time we met… Chris Wheeler scored in the 27th minute to lead Mount St. Mary's past Robert Morris 1-0 on Oct. 29, 2010. Freshman Patrick Wheeler hit a long ball to Eric Detzel, who hit a shot off the right post before Wheeler knocked home the decisive goal at the 26:47 mark. Chris Davis made two saves for the Mount in his fifth shutout of the season and now has 17 shutouts in his career. Toba Bolaji made two stops for the Colonials in the loss.

last time out… Jimmy Ockford scored with 3:27 left in the second overtime to lift Mount St. Mary's past Quinnipiac 2-1 on Sunday. With the game tied at 1, Chris Wheeler tapped the ball back to his brother Patrick Wheeler near the left side line, who then nailed a serve to the right center of the goal and found Ockford's head at the 106:33 mark for the decisive score. Ian Hendrie also found the twine for the Mount while Peter Steve made three saves in the winning effort.

the playoff picture… Going into the final weekend, nine of the 11 teams remain in the hunt for one of the four spots in the Northeast Conference Tournament. Central Connecticut State and Monmouth currently sit atop the standings with 15 points. Fairleigh Dickinson and Sacred Heart are tied for third with 14 points while Mount St. Mary's and Saint Francis (Pa.) sit in fifth place with 12 points. St. Francis (N.Y.) (10 points), Quinnipiac (nine points) and Long Island (seven points) are also in the mix. The Mount beat the Blue Devils, Bobcats and Blackbirds, but lost to the Pioneers, Knights and Terriers. The Mountaineers will face Saint Francis (Pa.) on Friday and Monmouth on Nov. 6.

next on tap… Mount St. Mary's will travel to Robert Morris on Sunday and to Monmouth on Nov. 6 to conclude the regular season.

the earlier, the better... Mount St. Mary's is 7-0 when it scores in the first half and 0-6-1 when it does not find a twine in the first frame. In addition, the Mount has scored in the first 12 minutes of the game in the squad's six wins while freshman Zoncher Dennis has posted three goals in the first 12 minutes. The freshman has notched the squad's first goal of a match four times this season after scoring his first career tally against Towson on Sept. 1.

in the league... The Mount is 78-90-27 in Northeast Conference matches. The Mountaineers are 40-53-15 under head coach Rob Ryerson in the NEC and 8-2-2 in the conference opener, including four-straight season-opening wins

need a bigger trophy case… Freshman Zoncher Dennis has been named the Northeast Conference Rookie of the Week four times this season. The freshman has taken the honor for the weeks of Aug. 28-Sept. 4, Sept. 19-25, Oct. 3-9 and Oct. 10-17. He is the first player in program history to earn the top rookie nod four times in a season and is only the second player to nab the award three times, joining senior Chris Wheeler. Dennis is the third player in the Northeast Conference to garner four NEC Rookie of the Week awards dating back to the 1997 season. During the week of Sept. 19-25, Dennis was also named to the TopDrawerSoccer.com Team of the Week and SoccerSavings.com/Philly Soccer News Men's College Player of the Week to run his award total to four for the week. Dennis was also named NEC Rookie of the Week for the week of Aug. 28-Sept. 4.

the golden sombrero of goals… Freshman Zoncher Dennis established a new Mount Division I record for goals in a game when he found the twine four times against La Salle on Sept. 24. The freshman tied John Tallarido's all-time single-game mark on the afternoon. Tallarido registered four goals against Washington Bible on Sept. 12, 1980 and also accomplished the feat against Millersville on Sept. 16, 1981.Dennis became the eighth player in Mount Division I history to register a hat trick and the first since Chris Wheeler on Oct. 10, 2008.

hendrie finding the twine… Senior Ian Hendrie ranks second on the team with three goals and six assists for 12 points. The senior posted two tallies and an assist against Iona on Sept. 11. Hendrie, who has played in the Mount's defense in two of his four seasons, has seven goals and six assists for 20 points.

preseason poll... The Mount St. Mary's men's soccer team has been tabbed to finish fifth according to the Northeast Conference (NEC) Preseason Coaches Poll. Monmouth, who is the two-time defending NEC Tournament champion winners of the last six NEC regular season crowns, was selected as the unanimous preseason favorite. Fairleigh Dickinson, Sacred Heart and Saint Francis (Pa.) were picked 2-3-4 while the Mount ended in a fifth-place tie with Long Island. Quinnipiac, Robert Morris, St. Francis (N.Y.), Central Connecticut State and Bryant rounded out the 11-team poll.

wheeling and dealing... Senior Chris Wheeler broke the Mount's Division I single-season goal record after scoring 13 times in 2010. The senior also became the program's Division I leader in career goals as a junior and now stands at 35 markers. Wheeler posted a goal and an assist against Long Island on Oct. 9 to become the Mount Division I all-time points leader with 82. Wheeler is the program's all-time leader in shots (282). The senior currently has 35 goals to sit fourth in program history, 10 away (John Tallarido, 45, 1979-81) from the all-time mark. In two of his first three seasons, Wheeler has scored at least 12 goals in a year. Next on the list is Tony Pasiakos (39, 1967-70) in second place. On the all-time points list, Wheeler has 82 career points to rank third and needs 20 points to Tallarido's all-time mark (101). Next on the list is Jaeho Song (85, 1980-83). Wheeler is also the seventh player in Division I history to notch a hat trick when he found the twine against Robert Morris on Oct. 10, 2008. He was named to the NSCAA All-Mid-Atlantic Region first team in 2010 and earned a spot on the All-NEC first team for the second-straight year after earning NEC Rookie of the Year honors and a spot on the All-NEC second team in his freshman year.

wrapping up the non-conference slate… Mount St. Mary's concluded its non-conference slate 3-3-1 after downing La Salle 5-0 on Sept. 24. It marked the first time the squad posted a non-losing mark in non-conference play since finishing 3-3-0 in 2003. The five tallies against the Explorers were the most goals in a game since defeating Robert Morris 6-0 on Oct. 10, 2008.

local rivalries... The Mount once again had a local flavor to its non-conference schedule, playing three of its seven non-conference matches against teams from the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area. The Mountaineers opened the season at UMBC on Aug. 27 (L, 0-1) and then traveled to Towson on Sept. 1 (T, 1-1) and hosted Howard (W, 2-0) on Sept. 19.

new to the mountain... Head coach Rob Ryerson has added 11 new players to his 2011 squad. Justin Connor, Dom De Aragao, Joshua De Aragao, Vlad Finn, Daniel Gill, Mauricio Navarrete, Will Pereira, Mark Plaisance, John Richards, Brett Smoot and Matthew Steele all joined the team for the 2011 season.

players from down under... Senior Chris Wheeler (Newcastle, Australia) and his brother Patrick Wheeler (Newcastle, Australia) are the second and third players to play at the Mount from Australia. Chris Davis, the first Australian born player in Emmitsburg, graduated in May 2011.

foreign flavor... Along with the Chris and Patrick Wheeler, who hail from Australia, junior Will Jagger (England), sophomore Koudzo Komlan (Togo) and freshman Zoncher Dennis (Ivory Coast) also came to the Mount from abroad.    

the family continues to grow... Head coach Rob Ryerseon has coached six of the nine brother combos in Mount men's soccer history. Senior Chris Wheeler and sophomore Patrick Wheeler and junior Alex Ockford and sophomore Jimmy Ockford will play together for the second-straight season. In 2011, the brothers of Dom and Joshua De Aragao joined the squad to become the ninth set of brothers to play men's soccer at the Mount.

home sweet home emmitsburg... Under head coach Rob Ryerson, Mount St. Mary's is 42-31-4 at home, including 6-1-0 this season, 4-2-1 in 2000 (Ryerson's first season) and 5-1 in 2003.

waldron family stadium... Mount St. Mary's is 23-17-2 at the Waldron Family Stadium. The squad moved into the state-of-the-art 1,000-seat Waldron Family Stadium for a full season in 2007. The Mount played three games in the venue in 2006, posting a 2-1 record. The Mountaineers lost their inaugural match at the stadium to Monmouth 3-0 on Oct. 15, 2006 before ending the season with wins against Sacred Heart (2-1) and Northeast Conference Tournament bound Fairleigh Dickinson (1-0 2OT).

friday night lights... Mount St. Mary's played its first two night games at Waldron Family Stadium in 2009 and have posted a 4-3 mark under the lights. The Mount will host Howard (Sept. 19) and Saint Francis (Pa.) (Oct. 28) at night in 2011.

about the coach... Head coach Rob Ryerson is entering his 12th season at the helm of the men's soccer team at the Mount, posting a career record of 70-111-24. He has led the Mount to a 40-53-15 mark in NEC regular season games. Ryerson was named the Northeast Conference Coach of the Year after guiding the Mountaineers to a 9-10-1 overall mark and a 5-4 record in league play and the squad's first NEC Tournament appearance since 1999 in the 2008 campaign.